Paying for Labour’s human rights breaches

In 1967, a PN government requisitioned a property at 362 St Joseph High Road in order to build an arterial road linking Santa Venera to Marsa.

When Labour was elected, they dropped plans for the road and instead, in 1973, took over that property itself, turning it into a Labour Party club. For over 50 years, Labour trampled over the owner’s property rights, occupying that property and paying just €32 per month.

In 2009, the courts annulled that requisition order which Labour had abused for its own purposes.  The owners were awarded €60,000 in compensation. Yet Joseph Muscat’s Labour kept occupying their property.

In 2022, the owners were awarded a further €161,240 in compensation by the courts after Robert Abela’s Labour kept paying a nominal amount of rent in breach of the lease agreement – again denying the owners their fundamental right to enjoy their property. Labour still didn’t move out.

Finally, after two decades of pursuing Labour in the courts, the owners thought they’d finally won. On 30 April 2025, the Rent Regulation Board ordered Labour be evicted from that Santa Venera property.

Unbelievably, Labour refused to move out.

The owners were compelled to keep fighting in court. Now Judge Wenzu Mintoff ordered Labour to be evicted from the property within 40 days. The court found that Labour breached the owners’ rights. This was sheer abuse of power by Labour.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that the owners will finally get their property back. Labour has a track record of defying court orders.

The Capitanerie restaurant is still standing. Minister Ian Borg is still frolicking in his swimming pool. Joseph Portelli didn’t see any of his illegal properties demolished. 

Judge Mintoff ordered Labour to pay all legal costs. Whether the PL will pay is an entirely different matter. It won’t be easy for the owners to pursue the ruling party for that money.

Robert Abela was confronted by journalists. He was asked whether his party would commit to covering the costs of this case rather than have the state pay. Abela didn’t give a straight answer. He said: “There is a sentence, and the party will proceed in line with that sentence”.

Labour’s abuse of those owners’ rights was not a one-off. Labour has a whole repertoire of such abuses.

Labour breached the fundamental rights of the owners of a prime Republic Street property for decades. Labour paid just €50 in rent every month for that double-fronted property in Valletta. Its rental market value is €44,000.

Labour was paying the owners a pittance while they were generating their own revenue by commercialising the property.

When the owners tried to get their property back, the State Advocate took Labour’s side. He argued that  Labour should be treated like a band club and should therefore benefit from favourable legal amendments.

Judge Depasquale swiftly dismissed the argument and awarded the owners €254,000. But Labour, which benefited for years from that Republic Street property, won’t pay a cent. Taxpayers will pay those €254,000.

To make matters worse, in February 2004, the Labour Party’s Valletta committee bought one out of 25 shares on the property. That meant Malta’s Labour Party owns 4% of that property.

Since Labour is technically a co-owner, the remaining owners who own 96% of it cannot evict Labour. So Labour gets to keep using that prime site in Valletta while the owners continue to be denied their right to enjoy their property.

In Żurrieq, Labour forced a woman to lease her property so it could be turned into the local club. She leased the property on Triq Mons Pietru Pawl Saydon to the Labour Party in 1973 on a 10-year contract.

But Labour never moved out. She was just paid €55 per month until 1985, when Labour began paying €67 per month. In 1994, rent increased to €94. That property is valued at €440,000. But the owner couldn’t enjoy it because Labour was squatting in her property.

Meanwhile, Labour was generating profits from the club. The owner had to embark on a long legal process to try to get her property back.

The court found that the owner was being forced to continue supporting and assisting Labour against her wishes. She was awarded €75,000 in pecuniary damages and another €8,000 in moral damages. But again, Labour won’t pay a cent of those €83,000. That money will be paid by us.

In Birżebbuġa, Labour did the same. It occupied a seafront property at Pretty Bay, snatching it from the owner.

Labour Minister Joe Brincat sent for the owners in 1979 and told them that they either agree to lease the property or Labour would simply requisition it. For over 45 years, Labour has occupied that seafront property.

The courts now awarded the owners €993,462 for being subjected to abuse of their fundamental rights by Labour. And again, the taxpayers cough up while the ruling party gets away scot-free.

In Senglea, Labour took over not just one property but three different properties on Victory Street. It paid the owners of two of those properties just €9 per month in rent, and the other a miserly €3.

Labour even carried out structural changes to the properties without the owners’ consent, rendering it difficult to distinguish one property from the rest. In 2015, Labour simply stopped paying rent.

The courts concluded that Labour had abused the owners’ fundamental rights and ordered the state to pay €155,920 in compensation. Labour faced no consequences. In fact, it’s still occupying those properties.

The owners will need to take up separate legal action in another court to evict Labour from their properties. When and if they manage, they’ll have to figure out which bit of the property belongs to each of them.

For decades, Labour has been trampling on the fundamental rights of those citizens, while making money out of their property. Labour pays no penalty. Instead, we get to pay millions to compensate those citizens for Labour’s abuse.